Mine by Rights
by lannerz
Summary: AU When Robert's Rebellion was finished, Catelyn married Stannis Baratheon. She must take it upon herself to change her discontent husband's ways. He never wanted to be Lord of Dragonstone, but she didn't expect to be the Lady either.


**Author's Notes:** This has nothing to do with my other Catelyn x Stannis fic. I've written a few AU scenarios where Catelyn married Stannis instead of Ned. I just really like this crackship apparently.

**Disclaimer: **GRRM owns all of these characters and also my soul.

**Mine by Rights**

Catelyn awakened with a start from a nightmare. For a while, she laid there in silence, listening to the storm, but when she felt around the bed, only to realize that she was alone, she decided to get up. She got out of bed, finding a robe and putting it on, wrapping the belt around her thin waist tightly. There was a pair of slippers by the door that she worked onto her feet before slipping out of the bedroom quietly. The hall was dark, only lit when there was a flash of lightening. She should have lit a candle, but she was halfway down the hall when she thought of this. It made no matter. She knew where her husband would be, just as he almost always was in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep. She'd lived on Dragonstone for a year now and had been married for just as long. Though she had come to know the castle intuitively, she was only just now starting to completely understand her distant and serious husband.

The storm that raged around Dragonstone might have scared some, but it didn't faze her. She could hear the howl of the wind, slipping in through the cracks of the stones like an eerie whistle, and the beat of the waves against the walls of the castle. When she had first come to Dragonstone, she had been wary, maybe even scared then, but she had tossed any sort of fear or insecurities she might have had into the sea the day of her marriage. There was no room for fear her, certainly not with a lord husband like hers.

She made her way through the Stone Drum, the central keep of the castle. This was where he would be. The castle would've been quiet as a mouse if it wasn't for the storm. The servants were either all away in their beds at this hour or were too busy working to walk around the castle. Even Maester Cressen would be asleep. Everyone but her lord husband slept well here, even during the storms. They were used to it. As was her husband, having lived at Storm's End where storms never ceased to end, but still, he was restless. Sure enough, when she rounded a corner, she saw light seeping out from underneath the doors of the Chamber of the Painted Table. Some people might've hesitated in interrupting him during his thoughts, because of the wrath that might follow, but she was not some people.

The doors were heavy, but she pushed one open and stepped inside the warmer room. The Painted Table of Westeros that the room had been named after always made her feel breathless. It must have taken so much work to create it, but they had done beautiful work on it. When she'd first come here, she had been more amazed by the table than the dragon statues that the castle was named after. There was just something about the way the table wormed its way through the room, completely crooked compared to most tables, she couldn't help but admire it. When she had first started to travel through the castle, she'd spent most of her time here, remembering all her lessons as a girl about the lands and castles of Westeros. She'd seen maps, of course, but nothing like this. Even as she walked quietly towards her husband, who was sitting in a chair and looking out the tall windows at the storm, her hands strayed to Riverrun, her fingertips touching it lightly where the castle would be.

She longed for home more than anything else, and Riverrun was home, with her family and loved ones that she'd grown up with, but Dragonstone was where she lived now and this was where she would have to build her own family.

Once she was standing right behind her husband, sure that he knew of her presence, she took a breath. "My lord, I awoke and you were no longer in bed," she said in her most proper and polite tone. One might not have even been aware that she was speaking to her husband, but she was still unsure of how he wanted her to speak to him.

Stannis Baratheon turned to look at her, a serious look on his face as there always was. He was a man of nine and ten, and yet he acted as he was already an old, surly man, doomed to be filled with contempt forever. "I could not sleep," he simply told her. He looked at her carefully. "Did the storm frighten you?"

"I'm a woman grown, not a little girl," Catelyn pointed out. He nodded his head and looked back out the window. Lightning flashed in front of them, lighting up the stones outside and the room even further. She could see it reflect in his distant blue eyes. Part of her was desperate to reach out to him, to pull him back to her, but she couldn't do it. There was always some reason or another that she held back from him. Perhaps it was because he was so aloof with her, she was not sure if he felt anything for her or not. "If I may ask, what is bothering you?"

"We should not be here," Stannis grumbled, a frown deepening on his face. "_I _shouldn't be here. It has been a year since I was given Dragonstone, and I still do not understand, no matter what Robert said." Catelyn sighed and looked down to her feet. No matter how hard she tried to please him, the fact that he was living in Dragonstone always burned him. She wasn't sure herself why he had been given Dragonstone, but made no comment on the matter. She thought he should be happy that he had a castle at all, considering his brother had waged war against the Iron Throne and the Targaryens, but said nothing of the sort. "Renly was just a boy of five, and Robert gave him Storm's End, the seat of House Baratheon. How can he expect a child to be able to rule over all of the storm lords?"

"This was the seat of House Targaryen," Catelyn said, merely reciting the words that Robert had told Stannis a year ago. "A strong leader is needed here in order to keep the people–"

"A strong leader is needed to keep fishermen and crabbers and petty lords in line?" Stannis scoffed. He huffed and stood up from the chair. She took a step back and watched as he walked to the table, placing his hands where Storm's End was. "I am his heir; I was next in line; and I held Storm's End for a year, and I nearly died for it as well. I did everything Robert commanded me to do. He never commanded me to eat horses and cats and dogs and rats and bugs, but I did. I did everything I could to protect our youngest brother, who nearly died of starvation, but I did it while Robert traveled the Seven Kingdoms, warring and whoring. And when Robert commanded me to lay siege on Dragonstone, even though I was so exhausted and starved, I did so, and I took it for him."

Catelyn stopped breathing for a moment. Stannis never talked about the Siege of Storm's End. It had taken its toll on him and being denied Storm's End had only burned the memory of it further into his mind. He had always been serious, from what she had heard, ever since the sudden deaths of his parents, but the siege had worn him thin. He still looked as if he had yet to recover from it. While his older brother Robert was muscular and burly, Stannis was thin, his clothes hanging on him loosely; even his black hair was starting to thin already. Of course he had strength – he had more strength than people expected of him, made of steel and grit – but his pride and honor had been severely wounded by his own blood.

Stannis pounded his fist on the table, making her jump a little. "I was meant to be the lord of Storm's End," he proclaimed through gritted teeth, "and you were meant–"

"To be the Lady of Winterfell," Catelyn cut in, causing Stannis to look up at her sharply, "but I'm _not_, and you're not the lord of Storm's End. You are the lord of Dragonstone." She stepped closer to him, laying a hand on his arm. He looked from her face down to her hand. Rarely were they ever affectionate. She wanted to be, but he didn't seem to know what to do with her, as if he'd never once considered what men did with women. She had once thought that perhaps his heart belonged to another, but she knew now that he kept his heart locked far away to be given to no one. "By the Seven, your brother succeeded in overthrowing the crown and you were proclaimed victors instead of traitors. You were given a castle instead of having your head taken. And yet you still ask for more, as if your life and land is not enough."

"It was _mine_," Stannis told her quietly, "mine by rights of birth and blood."

"And now it is Renly's. None of your brooding or complaining will ever change that. It will pass down to his son and his son after him." Catelyn reached out and touched his face gently with her hand. He looked ready to pull away, but he did not, keeping his eyes trained on hers. "Just as Dragonstone will pass down to your son."

"Catelyn…"

She smiled, if not a bit tiredly. "Come back to bed, Stannis. You can always brood during the day, but your nights should be with me."

Silence fell between them as they stared at each other. He would always remain stubborn and would always be serious, but she was tired of feeling left out in the cold. Their marriage left much to be wanted. He was terribly polite and proper with her, but was so chaste and indifferent that she felt like he forgot she even existed at times. However, now he was looking at her directly, and they were so very close. It had been nearly a month since they had done their duties in bed. She did not know how he expected to get an heir on her if he did not bed her, but he seemed almost afraid of her, even now, as he looked at her carefully. It wasn't that he was awkward with women so much as wary of them altogether.

And then he took her face in his hands and kissed her, cautiously at first. The action startled her, but she let herself sink into it and his body. He still didn't seem to know what to do with her, so she guided him through the steps. She stepped against him, her body pressed against his, and put her hands on both his arms. He deepened the kiss in response, surprising her yet again, but it was a good surprise, and his hands slid from her face down her neck and arms until he placed them on her waist. He shocked her suddenly, making her gasp, when he lifted her easily onto the table and stepped in between her legs, kissing her with more passion than she thought he had. Everything was going so fast that it was making her feel dizzy. Stannis had always been quick when it came to duties in bed, as if he wanted to get them over with as fast as possible, but this was more of a frenzy, like he was tasting her for the first time and was actually enjoying it. He kissed down her neck and pushed against her, making her gulp visibly.

It was only when he tugged the belt of her robe loose and she felt his warm hand through the very thin material of her night down did she come back to her senses. "Not here," she muttered against his lips, before pulling away from him. He gave her something of a confused look. He was finally giving her what she wanted – what they both wanted and needed – and she was telling him no. She put her hand on his, which was on her stomach. "Bed."

He nodded in his head understanding and helped her down from the table. With her cheeks flushed, she tied the belt around her waist again and blew out the candle, before taking his hand and leading him back to their bedroom.

Stannis might not have wanted Dragonstone, but it was his, and Catelyn was his, as he was hers.


End file.
